Big say yes energy
End of financial year calls for a behind the scenes of how my business worked in the past year and what comes next. Right?
Because if you’re anything like me, you love a good deep dive into this stuff (Kirsty Fanton did an epic one, recently). And I did tick off some pretty epic life goals in the 2019 - 2020 financial year that warrant a moment of reflection (and even celebration).
So, let’s get stuck in….
Highlights
Officially quit my day job (I’d been on extended leave since December 2018)
Relocated from Melbourne to a 17-acre olive farm in country Victoria
Had my first full financial year with both kids in daycare 3 days a week
Increased net profit by 65% (caveat: the previous financial year I had my littlest little home with me full-time for the first 7 months)
Came within a squeak of replacing my day job wage in terms of actual dollars in the bank after expenses, tax, etc.
Tested an agency-style model — taking on bigger and more projects and subcontracted work to other copywriters
Major business investments
Business Badassery with Kirsty again (yes, ok, I'm a big fan) and the incredible Amy Posner
3-months of meditation + coaching with Julia Hogarth
Productivity coaching and workflow mapping with Lauren at Seriously Sorted
The mindset stuff
I spent the first 6 months of the financial year going hard at everything. Every project, client and opportunity got a big fat unequivocal YES. We also relocated to the farm. To say things were full-on in both my personal and business life is an understatement.
I was working long days, nights and weekends, I said no to social events and hanging out with friends (having some serious regrets about some of those decisions now), I gave myself stress-induced rosacea, and I limped into Christmas on the verge of a breakdown.
Every month I said to myself (and my partner) that things would slow down, I just needed to get through my current project load. But then I did absolutely nothing to slow things down and the leads kept coming.
In the second 6 months of the financial year, I wanted to create a more sustainable workload (and life). And once I made the decision to take on fewer clients (even if it meant making less money) I thought things would get easier pretty quickly. I also thought Covid-19 would help slow things down, too.
Spoiler alert: neither of those things happened.
Turns out it takes quite a bit of time and effort to redirect the kind of momentum I’d created with my big “SAY YES” energy.
It took:
Tackling mindset stuff around scarcity and self-worth (still working on it)
Shifting away from subcontracting completely (not the model for me)
Dialling in my services so that the work I do is aligned with what I like, what I’m good at and what gives me energy
Sorting out my systems and processes so that I’m not spending so much time admin and spinning my wheels
Setting and honouring serious boundaries about where I spend my time and energy
There's some pretty big stuff in that list and I’ve glossed over the detail because this is a long email already. But if you’re keen to hear more on any or all of these let me know, I’m happy to share my insights.
I’m finally feeling less overwhelmed, yay!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to past me for doing the work and laying the foundations of this little biz of mine.
Because although it was wholly unsustainable, the foundations I created (which include a tidy little sum of savings) are now allowing me to create a business (and a life) that doesn’t just look good on paper but that feels good, too.
I'm still working hard and my big “SAY YES” energy is still there. I’m just attempting to be more focused (biz friends, this would be so much easier if you could stop putting awesome offers into the market, k thx). And also divert the yeses to the things I need and my own boundaries.
That means my dreams look a little smaller for FY 20-21
Take on fewer clients
Maintain revenue and decrease expenses
Find more ways to free up time and energy (like automating more of my processes or creating a 1:many offer or something else)
Dial-in my brand and really think about my leadership position in my industry
Listen to my clients and community so I can deliver more value
Cultivate my creativity and take really good care of myself (sleep is basically my #1 priority right now)
And that’s it! I’m always hungry for this level of detail so I hope it’s useful for you, too. If you want even more info on any of this stuff, drop me a line. I’d be genuinely delighted to hear from you.
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